Trapezoid
by Zubeneschamali
Summary: A little bit more (AU) closure for "Triangle." Takes place after the end of the episode.


Title: Trapezoid   
Author: Zubeneschamali   
Rating: PG   
Category: VR   
Keywords: Mulder/Scully MSR   
Spoilers: Triangle   
Summary: Yeah, I know there are dozens of post-"Triangle" stories. But if ever an episode begged for closure, this was it. Takes place the morning after the end of the episode.

Disclaimer: All the characters are borrowed from FOX and Chris Carter, who _almost_ got it right...

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"Well, then how do you explain why my jaw hurts?" Mulder asked. 

It was the next morning, he was still flat on his side, and they were still arguing over whether he had truly experienced what he thought he had. The only way he felt able to prove it was through his catalog of injuries. So far, they all seemed to be explainable in other ways, enough that he was almost starting to doubt himself. Maybe it was just the wishful thinking of a drowning man that had provided him with an adventure on a ship that had vanished 60 years ago.

But there was a fist-sized bruise on his cheek, and the memory of an embrace and a kiss that had simply taken his breath away. Not that he was about to tell Scully that part, considering her reaction to his revelation the night before.

"Maybe you hit it somehow. Mulder, the boat you were in was in pieces in the water. Whatever happened to injure the rest of your body must have hurt your face as well."

He shook his head and pointed to his cheek. "Tell me that doesn't look like I was punched," he said.

She leaned closer, close enough that he could feel her breath cooling his sore cheek. One hand came up to touch his face, and he held his breath from both the pleasure and the pain. "All right, it does look like you were punched," Scully said, still stroking at his cheek. "What happened, one of the Nazis take a swing at you?"

"No, actually, you did," he answered without thinking, still enjoying the feel of her hand.

Scully raised an eyebrow and moved back, lowering her hand to the bed rail. "I did that?"

*Oops.* "Uh, yeah, you did."

"Was I knocking some sense into you, or were you trying to get fresh with me?" she asked with a slight grin. When he didn't reply, but turned his face away, her expression grew serious. "Mulder?"

"I, uh...yeah. Never mind."

Now she was curious. "Mulder, if you want me to believe what you're saying, you have to tell me all of it. I'm not going to get mad at you, or laugh at you. I just want to know what you think happened."

"You didn't last time you were here," he muttered.

"Mulder, you were pumped so full of drugs you could have been saying anything. Now that you're lucid, I want to hear your explanation."

He slowly turned his head and looked her straight in the eye, the same hungry look he had given her alternate on the _Queen Anne_. The look that had been followed by sweeping her into his arms and...well, and then getting punched. He winced. It was an odd contrast to the desire in his eyes. "I'm as lucid now as I was then," he began. "I know what happened on that ship."

She reached out and touched his cheek. "What happened, Mulder?" she said softly.

"Well, when I came to I was being dragged into the ship by a bunch of English crewmen--"

"No, I mean this." She laid her hand against his cheek and went on, "Mulder, do you remember what you said when you first woke up?"

"You mean aside from the Wizard of Oz thing?" he asked. For some reason, the thought of telling Scully that he had kissed her, much less repeating his ill-received statement of affection, was worse than having her think he was nuts. Maybe if he was lucky, he could pass it off on the drugs. "I don't know, Scully, I guess I was kind of out of it..."

"I thought you were as lucid now as you were then," she gently chided.

"Well, that might not say much for my current mental state," he joked, but stopped when Scully's face fell and she drew her hand away. "Hey," he said, reaching out for her hand. "I'm sorry, I'm just..." He sighed. "Look, I just don't want to be rejected by you three times in a row, okay?"

The eyebrow went back up, but she said nothing.

Mulder sighed and ran his other hand through his hair. At least he tried to, but the bandages on his shoulder prevented him from moving that arm very far, and it hurt like hell anyway. He flopped back against the pillow and said all in one breath, "You were there, Scully, and I told you you had to save mankind by turning the ship around, and you believed me, but I thought I might never see you again, and I so I kissed you, and then you decked me, and then I jumped overboard, and then I woke up here, and I told you I love you, and you just said, 'Oh brother' and figured I was nuts. That's twice, and here comes number three," and he pulled his hand from hers and tried to concentrate on one of the physical aches in his body instead of the one growing in his heart.

The room went silent. *Oh,* Scully thought. *Well.* She thought for a moment how best to approach this. Then she gently asked, "Mulder, why do you think I'm here?"

"You had some vacation time and there's a beach outside?"

She quelled the urge to roll her eyes. "Do you have any idea how I found you?"

He shrugged, then winced. *Damn bandages.* "I assume the Gunmen had something to do with it."

She shook her head. "It was Skinner. The Gunmen are the ones who told me you were missing. Mulder, I was racing around the FBI building, telling off my former supervisor, impersonating a fellow agent, threatening the life of my replacement--"

"You threatened Spender?" Mulder asked, raising his head from the pillow. "Cool."

Scully wanted to be exasperated, but the corners of her mouth insisted on turning up. "Mulder," she said warningly.

He lowered his eyes. "Sorry."

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "Anyway, the short version is, I went through a lot of bull to find you." Her eyes were telling him more about why she had gone through it, but he was still looking downward. So she spoke instead, "So what was this kiss like?"

His eyes flew back to hers. "Scully..." he said, his tone clearly saying, *Don't joke.*

But her eyes were serious. "Who started it?" she asked.

"Me."

She slowly nodded. "What did you do?"

"What does it matter?" he asked, trying to pull his hand away. But she kept a firm hold of it.

"It matters because it might explain why I did what I did, if it was really me. Mulder, it's not..." and here she was the one to avert her gaze, looking down at their hands. "It's not that the idea of kissing you is distasteful. I can just see that if you went about it the wrong way, I might not take it well. Especially if I'd never met you before." She looked up at him and was relieved to see a small smile on his face. "You said that you thought you were never going to see me again?"

He nodded. "It's not like we were about to be killed--that happened earlier--heck, it happens all the time. But there was a real danger that we might never even exist. That--that really terrified me, Scully. I guess I figured it was worth the risk to show you how I felt."

"Was it?" she asked, her left hand coming up to stroke his cheek with the back of her fingers.

His left hand caught hers. "You tell me," he replied in a low tone, eyes boring into hers. 

Scully felt a leaden lump in her stomach as her nerves suddenly kicked in. She had been feeling an irrational surge of jealousy that her double should have gotten to kiss this man when the best she could do was receive CPR from him. Regardless of what condition he had been in last night, she desperately wanted to believe that he meant what he said. 

But her thoughts were interrupted as Mulder rose to one elbow and began to pull her towards him. *Is this finally it?* she thought. She half-closed her eyes, watching his mouth come nearer, watching her lips move to meet his, and then--

She heard a sound. Someone was clearing his throat behind them. She froze, eyes locked on Mulder's, two inches away. *Damn,* both pairs of eyes said. His gaze flicked over her shoulder, and he winced. *Must be Skinner,* Scully thought, and turned to see that, indeed, it was their former supervisor, arms crossed and very deliberately not staring at them. "Agent Mulder," he said, "I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

*I would have been feeling really good if you had managed to wait a few more seconds before barging in,* Mulder wanted to say. But instead he replied, "Yes, sir, though I'm afraid my ass still isn't ready to be kicked."

A corner of Skinner's mouth twitched. "I believe Agent Scully has dibs on that anyway." He came forward to stand beside the bed, noticing the way their hands were intertwined but choosing to ignore it. "Mulder, do you remember when you were making arrangements to travel to Antartica a few months ago?"

He closed his eyes. "It's not something I'm going to soon forget, sir."

Skinner nodded. "The only other time I've ever seen something like that was two days ago." He gestured to Scully and went on, "I think you two are even in the rescuing department."

There was silence for a moment. Then Scully said, "Sir, about--"

"Never mind, Agent Scully," Skinner said, knowing full well what she was referring to and correctly assuming that she didn't really want to talk about it in front of Mulder. "We all do what we have to." He paused, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Take care of him. And I'm sorry for the interruption." She could have sworn she saw a wink behind the glare of his glasses as he walked away.

The two agents stared at each other for a moment. Then Mulder asked with a sly smile, "So, Scully, where were we?"

She surprised him by swiftly leaning forward until their lips were nearly touching. "Right about here, I think," she said softly, her breath warm on his mouth.

"Oh," he replied. His body suddenly felt like it was about to float off the bed. "This is about where we always get, isn't it?"

She smiled, and he swore he could feel her lips moving. "Is this how it happened on the ship?"

He was drowning again, this time in her eyes, and he really hoped that rescue was nowhere near. "Uh, not exactly." Her eyes queried him, and he went on, "I just kind of put my arm around you and, well, pulled you towards me. And kissed you."

"Big macho Mulder, huh?" Her smile grew as she noticed his breathing quicken yet again. Her cool exterior had never served her so well, being able to carry on this conversation as if she wasn't poised just a breath away from Mulder's lips. Even if it was slowly killing her.

He was going cross-eyed from looking at her so close, but that was nothing compared to the way his heart was pounding in his chest. He drew a deep breath. "Scully, if you're going to kiss me, then do it, or I think we can add 'heart attack' to my list of ailments."

Her eyes lowered for an instant. Then she whispered, "It's just so much easier to joke about it than to actually do it."

One corner of his mouth turned up. "You know that's my motto," he responded dryly.

She looked back at him, having a little difficulty focusing at such close range. "But on the rare occasions you let the truth out, you really do it, don't you?"

He gave a slight nod, just enough to gently touch his forehead against hers. "I meant what I said last night, drugs or no. Scully...I love you."

He didn't hear her response, but rather felt her lips shape the words as they moved toward his, so that by the time she got to "too", they were touching. And they were kissing. 

And it was so, so worth the risk.


End file.
